investment

Asking for three things… that’s what we plan to do next Tuesday when Mental Health Australia Members and delegates descend on Parliament House for the 2018 Parliamentary Advocacy Day. Three things to expand and reorient mental health reform, all with the overarching principles of consumer and carer engagement and co-design...

To know where we’re going, it’s sometimes good to look back at where we’ve come from. And more importantly, look at how far we’ve come. Five years of budget summaries for mental health. Some years with not much joy at all, some with more, and always more to do no matter what the result.

Mental health needs the same type of investment and reform as the Federal Government has promised to deliver for aged care and for people with diabetes.

The Federal Government needs to inject billions of dollars into mental health and introduce a suite of reforms to governance and administration if its promise of making mental health reform a major second term agenda is to be fulfilled.

The 2010 Australian of the Year, Professor Pat McGorry, leaves an indelible and important legacy – he has pushed mental health to the forefront of the political agenda and been a passionate and tireless advocate for reform and investment in mental health services.

The COAG health agreement paves the way for the Gillard Government to deliver on its promise to invest in and reform mental health care in Australia.